The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to motor drive systems used in industrial automation applications, and more specifically to systems and methods for establishing a secure wireless connection between a drive and a smart device.
Electric motors are employed in a variety of applications, such as a great variety of automation operations, manufacturing applications, material packaging and handling, metal forming, paper handling, textiles, and so forth. In a typical arrangement, a motor drive sends signals to the electric motor to control operation of the electric motor. human interface modules (HIMs; also sometimes called human machine interfaces or HMIs), such as those available from Rockwell Automation of Milwaukee, Wis., or other operator interfaces may be used to provide a user with access to such automation devices. HIMs and other operator interface devices have become more expensive to produce as more and more cutting-edge features are incorporated into the design. The increasing prevalence of smart devices (e.g., smart phones, tablet computers, etc.) offer an alternative human interface, but wireless connections between smart devices and automation components may not be sufficiently secure for some applications, and such security concerns has limited their adoption in the industrial automation context.